Engineering Programs Rise in U.S. News Rankings

UT Dallas undergraduate programs in engineering have emerged in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings for the first time, placing 60th among the nation’s public schools of engineering.

The school’s graduate program has continued rising through the U.S. News rankings as well, moving up one place in the past year to 46th among public graduate schools of engineering – and maintaining its position as third among publicly funded schools in Texas. The school’s electrical engineering graduate program rose three places to 38th among comparable programs at other public universities, and the graduate program in computer science maintained its position among the top 50 such programs at public universities.

The school’s recent growth began with a landmark five-year $300 million initiative in 2003 that included Texas Instruments, the state, private donors and the UT System. Since then the school has:

Added three academic departments.

Hired about two dozen additional faculty, topping 100.

More than doubled annual research funding to nearly $30 million.

Built a 192,000-square-foot interdisciplinary facility that houses research in semiconductor manufacturing, bioengineering, materials science and much more.

Just 24 years old, the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science can boast noteworthy rankings even when much older private schools are factored in. When compared with both public and private universities nationwide, undergraduate programs at the Jonsson School rank 95th, its graduate school 76th, its graduate program in electrical engineering 66th and its graduate program in computer science 79th.

The school’s just-completed 10-year strategic plan sets forth an ambitious agenda for the next decade, calling for the addition of at least 70 faculty, nearly doubling the student population to 5,000, doubling annual research funding to $60 million and adding more than 300,000 square feet of facilities.

“These results clearly demonstrate our efforts are producing tangible results,” said Dr. Mark W. Spong, dean of the Jonsson School and holder of the Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair in Electrical Engineering. “We are dedicated to increasing the scale of the Jonsson School, and we are confident numerous benefits will accrue, including a strong impact on the local economy from the infusion of more research funding, our ability to provide Texas with many more engineers and scientists, additional research collaborations with local industry, and the creation of more start-up companies that emerge from our research, further benefiting the local economy.”

NOTE: U.S. News & World Report rankings cited are from the publication’s Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs report, Best Science Schools report, Best Graduate Schools report and, within the latter, Best Engineering Schools Specialty Rankings.